Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag sailing in from the salty mists so soon after Assassin's Creed 3 signifies Ubisoft's drive to annualize the series on a regular holiday release track. Some fans worry the saturation of Creeds will dull the appeal of sticking sharp metal objects into bad men as a hooded killer. For Ubisoft Montreal head Yannis Mallat (via Eurogamer ), however, it's full sails for the yearly cycle unless players say otherwise.

"The players will tell us," Mallat assures. "Right now, there are more and more coming into the franchise, so I don't see that day."

The key, Mallat claims, is for each Creed release to carry the same attention to detail and quality as its predecessors. If that's achieved, players will come back wanting more.

"It's our breakthrough," he says. "When you have quality content, the frequency of coming out with the game is not an issue at all. On the contrary, people expect more and more of that content. So, it's natural to be able to provide that content. The gamers are happy, and it's our job to make them happy."

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag makes port on October 29 in the US and November 1 in Europe, and you can bet Ubisoft will have another entry on offer 365 days later. In fact, it's already working on it .